I've had the MicroFreak for a while now and it's just great. It was my first hardware synth so it's always going to be special for me.
However there are a few things I feel could be improved.
First, I love the new vocoder mode. I mean wow, I'm blown away it had that audio input hidden in there all this time. But I can't stop thinking: what if there could be a new Resonator Oscillator to process external audio, or to use external audio to resonate sounds from the MF? Sort of like a trimmed MI Rings, it would be really really awesome.
And something I've aaaaalways wanted is being able to use the Bend Strip as a Mod Wheel. I know there's plenty of modulators but still, always comes in handy. And it'd be particularly useful for playing when there's a midi sequence playing the MF. Maybe if you turn off the Bend/Spice/Dice strips, the bend strip enters "Mod Wheel" mode, and you can assign multiple modulation destinations with the Matrix by using one of the Assign slots. Yeah you sacrifice instant bend note, but it's just a press away.
Scala compatibility would be nice to get MicroTuning the MicroFreak (and I think it goes great with the Scale Mode).
I'm sure you've heard this one before, but a plugin editor would be cool to help with automations, or generating random presets. I don't think it's a must, but it'd be cool to expand the DAW-MF compatibility. I think the greatest potential it could have would be to allow us to edit the sequencer, either by exporting or importing from it. Also the editor could be used to record the variations developed with the Spice and Dice options in the arpeggiator, or maybe an update that allows to record those variations into the sequencer? My way around that right now is to record the MIDI from the MF, edit the bits I liked and then send the MIDI back into the MF and record audio (and this is where the Bend Stripe Turned Mod Wheel comes in handy to play with sound given that with the sequence playing via MIDI using the Keyboard pressure is off the table).
Talking about the sequencer, what about a note on probability mode similar to the one on Pigments? Maybe on hardware it would be hard to edit, but with the Editor, you export it to MF and you're done.
And if there's ever a MiniFreak, a waveshaper indepedent from the Waveshaping Oscillator would be craaaaazy to go even Freakier. Two parallel/serial filters? A filter and and Low Pass Gate? Keeping the spirit of fusing East and West Coast. And External CV input (crazy pitch, could the Audio In in the Headphones output receive CV, or too hot?).
Anyways, thanks for the great work, really a big fan of all Arturia products, hope this gets to be read (The Mod Wheel Strip mod would be reaaaaally great, I think).
Cheers from Mexico!
